Housing for a sanitary product dispenser

ABSTRACT

A housing ( 1 ) for a sanitary product dispenser, wherein said housing can be detachably fastened to a wall or a wall plate ( 18 ), comprising A) a first box-shaped housing part ( 2 ) having a front ( 9 ), a back ( 10 ), two lateral sides ( 4, 5 ), a top ( 6 ), and a bottom ( 7 ), which surround a hollow space ( 8 ), in which a sanitary product dispenser can be accommodated, B) a second panel-shaped housing part ( 3 ), and C) locking means ( 12 ) for the detachable connection of the second housing part ( 3 ) at the front ( 9 ) of the first housing part ( 2 ), wherein D) the locking means ( 12 ) can only be detached front the hollow space ( 8 ).

The invention relates to housing for a sanitary product dispenser of theintroductory portion of claim 1.

For arranging restrooms in the sanitary or hygienic sector individually,modular, sanitary product dispensers are suitable, which, by means ofexchangeable parts of the housing, especially of front plates or panels,make it possible to provide each restroom with its own character. Thesanitary product dispensers, used in such restrooms, compriseessentially cloth hand towel dispensers, paper roll dispensers, foamedsoap dispensers, toilet paper dispensers and fragrance dispensers.

A sanitary product dispenser with a multipart housing is known from U.S.Pat. No. 3,902,637 of SCHEELER. This known sanitary product dispensercomprises a housing, which can be mounted at a wall and has anexchangeable front plate. The front plate is introduced from the upperside of the housing on rails mounted at the housing. After the frontplate is introduced into these rails, a lid can be fastened detachablyon the upper side of the housing by means of ribs, which snap into oneanother, two first ribs being disposed at mutually opposite side wallsof the lid and two second ribs at the inner wall of the housing. The lidis not secured at the housing so as to prevent dismantling by means oftensile forces and can readily be taken off without further aids. Themutually engaging ribs are constructed symmetrically with respect totensile and compression forces and have the same shape in bothdirections. As a result, the lid can be mounted from the outside (simplyby pressing it on the housing) and dismantled in the same way (simply bypulling it away from the housing), so that, for example, a valuable,panel-shaped housing part, disposed at the front side, could be stolen.

The invention is to provide a remedy here and is based on the objectiveof developing a housing with a panel-shaped housing part, which can beexchanged only by maintenance personnel.

The invention accomplishes the objectives set with a sanitary productdispenser, which has the distinguishing features of claim 1

The advantages, achieved by the invention, can be seen essentiallytherein that, due to the inventive housing:

-   the ability to exchange the second housing part (front panel) is    ensured. Due to the ability to exchange the front panel of all    sanitary product dispensers of a product line, the possibility    exists of matching restroom products individually to the interior of    the restroom of the client and, by using high-grade front panels, to    provide the restroom with its own character;-   simplified manufacturing and warehousing of the different parts. of    the housing is possible;-   safeguarding against unintentional removal of the front panel is    provided;-   the front panel can be exchanged only by the maintenance personnel    and-   customer-specific decorations and/or advertising inscriptions can be    applied.

For a particular embodiment of the invention, the locking means comprisefixation elements, which can be snapped into place uniaxially and bymeans of which a simple configuration of the locking means results.Advantageously, the locking means can be snapped into place transverselyto the front side of the first housing part. A connection between thefirst and second parts of the housing, which is positive and can beloaded in tension, can be produced by locking elements parallel to thefront side of the first housing part.

For a further embodiment, groove-shaped fastening means are disposed atthe first housing part and, at the front side and on the lateral sidesare open and embrace cams at the front side. Furthermore, elevations areprovided at the second housing part and can be pushed parallel to thefront side into the groove-shaped fastening means and subsequently, byshifting the second housing part against the underside of theelevations, brought into engagement with the cams, so that the secondhousing part can be fastened orthogonally to the front side and againstthe underside at the first housing part. The additional fixation of thefront panel at the housing permits the locking mechanism to beconfigured simply.

For a further embodiment, the locking means can be snapped into placeparallel to the front side of the first housing part. A connectionbetween the first and second parts of the housing, which is positive andcan be loaded in tension, can be produced by the locking elementsorthogonally to the front side; in addition, the use of a hinge joint ispossible. Advisably, the first and second housing parts can be connectedwith one another by means of a hinge, which can be swiveled about anaxis of rotation parallel to the underside.

For a further embodiment, the housing comprises a wall plate, which canbe fastened to a wall and the housing can be fixed detachably with itsrear to the wall plate. This embodiment has the advantage that thehousing can be removed easily from the wall for filling or for servicework.

For a further embodiment, the housing can be secured to the wall plateby means of a lock, so that only the maintenance personnel can changeanything at the sanitary product dispenser. Advisably, the secondhousing part can indicate the degree, to which the dispenser is filled.The first housing part may be constructed box-like and the secondhousing part preferably is panel-shaped.

In further embodiment forms, the second housing part may be curvedconvexly. By these means, the advantages of a component, which can beproduced and cleaned more easily, can be achieved.

A film technique may be used for configuring the surface of the secondhousing part, constructed as a front panel, differently. On the otherhand, applying a film on the whole of the housing would be a problem,because hulls are formed in the film. Such a film can also be decoratedin the mold, that is, the film is placed in the mold and the plastic isinjected subsequently. It is also possible to inlay a chromium edgesimultaneously.

The invention and further developments of the invention are explained ineven greater detail in the following by means of the partiallydiagrammatic representations of an example. In the representations,

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the inventive housing for a sanitaryproduct dispenser, such as a foamed soap;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the first housing part of theembodiment of the inventive housing, shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a cross-section along the line D-D in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged section A in FIG. 2 in longitudinal section,together with the second housing part and

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged section B in FIG. 2 in longitudinal section,together with the second housing part

An embodiment of the housing 1 for a sanitary product dispenser,constructed, for example, as a soap dispenser, is shown in FIGS. 1 to 5.

For fastening the housing 1, surrounding the soap dispenser (not shown)to a wall 30, a wall plate 18 (shown diagrammatically by broken lines inFIG. 3) is attached to a wall. The wall plate 18 may be screwed to thewall 30, for example, by means of screws (not shown) and connectedpermanently or detachably with the soap dispenser. The housing 1 issecured by means of a lock 19 and, if the lock 19 is opened, by means offastening elements (not shown), which can be introduced detachably intoone another, to the wall plate 18.

The housing 1 comprises a box-shaped housing part 2 and a secondpanel-shaped housing part 3, which can be connected detachably to thefirst housing part 2. By means of a front side 9, a back side 10, twolateral sides 4, 5, an upper side 6 and an underside 7, the firstbox-shaped housing part 2 forms a frame around a cavity 8 (FIG. 3). Thecavity 8 is provided at the underside 7 with an opening 21, so that asoap dispenser (not shown), disposed in the cavity 8, can be servicedmanually from the underside 7.

Groove-shaped fastening means 11 are disposed at the front side 9 of thefirst housing part 2 (FIG. 2). The second housing part 3 is constructedshell-like and comprises two lateral frame elements 27, 28 (FIG. 3),which protrude into the cavity 8 and are disposed parallel to thelateral sides 4, 5, and an upper frame element 29 (FIG. 4) parallel tothe upper side 6 of the first housing part 2. At each of the lateralframe elements 27, 28, three elevations 20 are disposed in such amanner, that they protrude into the cavity 8 and can be brought intoengagement with the groove-shaped fastening means 11 (FIGS. 3 and 5).

Each of the groove-shaped fastening means 11 comprises three recesses 26at the front side, which extend parallel to the lateral sides 4, 5. Therecesses 26 are open on the lateral sides 4, 5. Furthermore, thefastening means 11 comprise cams 22, which close off the recesses 26parallel to the lateral sides 4, 5 and partially against the front side9, so that undercut-like grooves 23 are formed (FIGS. 2, 3 and 5) at thelateral sides 4, 5. For attaching the second housing part 3 to the firsthousing part 2, the elevations 20 are introduced into the grooves 23 byshifting the second housing part 3 parallel to the front side 9.

For the installation of a second housing part 3, the elevations 20 canbe pushed parallels to the front side 9 so far into the groove-shapedfastening means 11, that they are in contact with the ends of therecesses 26 directed against the underside 7, so that the second housingpart 3 can be fastened at the front housing part 2 orthogonally to thefront side 9, so that it cannot be shifted further at the first housingpart 2.

Furthermore, the housing 1 comprises locking means 12 for detachablyconnecting the second housing part 3 to the front side 9 of the firsthousing part 2. The locking means 12 are configured in such a manner,that they automatically snap into place during the installation and canbe detached only from the inside of the cavity 8.

The locking means 12 comprise a latch 13 (FIG. 4), protruding into thecavity 8 at the upper frame element 29 of the second housing part 3 andhaving an asymmetrical nose 14. During the installation of the secondhousing part 3, the latch 13 can be bent elastically about an axisparallel to the front side 9 and to the upper side 6 and snapped into anasymmetric depression 15 in the front side 9. Due to the complementary,saw tooth-like, asymmetric formation of the nose 14 and the depression15, the second housing part 3 is locked against being dismantled, thatis, against a displacement in the direction of the upper side 6.Subsequently, this locking can be unlocked once again only from withinthe cavity 8, for example, by means of an instrument, by pressing on thelatch 13 until the nose 14 disengages from the depression 15.

1. A housing for a sanitary product dispenser, which can be fasteneddetachably to a wall or a wall plate comprising: a first housing partwith a front side, a rear side, two lateral sides, an upper side and anunderside, which frame a cavity, in which a sanitary product dispensercan be accommodated; a second housing part, and locking means fordetachably connecting the second housing part to the front side of thefirst housing part, wherein the locking means can be unlocked only fromwithin the cavity.
 2. The housing of claim 1, wherein the locking meanscomprises fixation elements, which can be snapped into place uniaxially.3. The housing of claim 1, wherein the locking means can be snapped intoplace transversely to the front side of the first housing part.
 4. Thehousing of claim 1, wherein groove-shaped fastening means, which areopen at the front side and on the lateral sides, are disposed at thefirst housing part and comprise cams at the front side, and in thatelevations are mounted at the second housing part, so that theelevations can be pushed parallel to the front side into thegroove-shaped fastening means and subsequently, by shifting the secondhousing part against the underside the elevations can be bought intoengagement with the cams, so that the second housing part can befastened at the first housing part orthogonally to the front guide andagainst the underside.
 5. The housing of claim 1, wherein the lockingmeans can be snapped into place parallel to the front side of the firsthousing part.
 6. The housing of claim 5, wherein the first housing partand the second housing part are connected with one another by means of ahinge, so that they can be pivoted about an axis of rotation parallel tothe underside.
 7. The housing of claim 1, wherein the housing comprisesa wall plate, wherein the wall plate can be fastened to a wall and thehousing can be fixed with its rear side detachably to the wall plate. 8.The housing of claim 1, wherein the housing can be secured by means of alock to the wall plate.
 9. The housing of claim 1, wherein the secondhousing part is panel shaped and comprises an indicator showing thedegree to which the housing is filled.
 10. The housing of claim 1,wherein the first housing part is constructed box-shaped and the secondhousing part is constructed panel-shaped.